Among the many types of telecommunication services, a common carrier (e.g., interexchange carrier) can supply toll services (i.e., “long distance” services), whereby a call is transported over the network of the carrier generally from one Local Access and Transport Area (LATA) to another. Currently, most Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) type phone calls traversing the carrier's long-distance network are terminated via a Local Exchange Carrier (LEC), such as the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), or other local exchange carriers (CLECs) in the United States or abroad. These Local Exchange Carriers terminate the calls transported by the carriers. For use or access to their networks, the LECs charge termination access fees (i.e., egress charge). Given the volume of the calls carried by the long distance carriers, these access fees constitute a significant expense for these carriers. The intense competition among common carriers provides a continual drive to seek more cost effective approaches to providing telecommunication services.
As mandated by law (Telecommunications Act of 1996), Local Number Portability (LNP) has been introduced to further open up competition in the common carrier market. LNP is the ability of users of telecommunications services to retain, at the same location, existing telecommunications numbers without impairment of quality, reliability, or convenience when switching from one telecommunications carrier to another. Conventionally, LNP calls are processed using Local Routing Numbers (LRNs). LNP and LRNs are supervised by the Number Portability Administration Center under the auspices of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). When a customer changes their local service provider, the Number Portability Administration Center assigns a new LRN to the telephone number that is being ported. The new LRN is obtained by the common carrier when a call is placed to the ported number to properly route the call. During processing of a LNP call, the LRN associated with the customer is obtained using a Service Control Point (SCP) to properly route the call over the network of the new local service provider. Thus, if the customer changes to yet another local exchange carrier, only the LRN changes. LNP processing in this manner is industry mandated.
Given the traditional approach for supporting LNP, local access fees are incurred by a long distance service provider (or interexchange carrier) when the calls are terminated to the LECs. That is, terminating Direct Distance Dialing (DDD) calls within a LEC network entails a charge to the long distance service provider. These access charges represent the single largest expense for the interexchange carrier, and have a direct impact on profitability. Moreover, the customers pay for circuits to the LECs, depending on the amount of incoming traffic received from the particular LEC.
Therefore, there is a need for an approach to provide alternate terminations of PSTN type calls to more efficiently utilize the resources of the network, while reducing operational costs.